Μake us preferred on Google A planned eviction of a 92-year-old woman with an 87% disability rating from her home in Thessaloniki was postponed Friday, following a protest by unions and housing-rights groups seeking to prevent her removal.
The woman has lived in the property in the city’s Ilioupoli district for 64 years. The eviction had been scheduled for October 30, but was called off at least temporarily as authorities are expected to examine a request filed by her family to suspend the process.
Supporters gathered outside the house earlier in the day after the Thessaloniki Tenants’ Union and other organizations called for action to protect her from losing her home.
Loan and foreclosure led to eviction proceedings
The case stems from a loan taken out by the woman’s two children before Greece’s financial crisis. They were subsequently unable to repay it.
After her husband’s death, ownership of the property passed to their two children. The house was later put up for auction in 2021 and transferred to the National Bank of Greece, according to the Thessaloniki Tenants’ Union.
The 92-year-old, a mother of six who receives a low pension, was facing eviction from what the union described as her first and only home. She also has serious health problems, in addition to her certified disability rating of 87%.
In its announcement, the union called for an immediate halt to the eviction proceedings and protection of the woman’s home. It urged residents and housing-rights supporters to stand alongside her, arguing that the case reflects broader concerns over housing insecurity and the treatment of homes as financial assets.
The group also called for protections against foreclosures and evictions, under the slogan: “Housing is a right, not a commodity.”
Case recalls Spanish eviction that sparked protests
The situation has drawn comparisons with the case of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman in Spain who lost the home where she had lived for almost her entire life after a housing fund initiated eviction proceedings.
Her case prompted protests that began in Madrid and spread to other parts of Spain. Housing-rights groups, led by tenants’ organizations, eventually secured her return to the property at an affordable rent.
The demonstrations also brought rising rents to the center of Spain’s political debate and increased pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government to introduce tenant-protection measures.
Two proposed decrees included suspending evictions until 2030 and automatically renewing rental contracts.
